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Accuses spying { January 6 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15730-2003Jan6.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15730-2003Jan6.html
Hussein Slams U.N. Inspectors, Accuses Them of Spying
Dictator Says Iraq Ready for War
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 6, 2003; 3:19 PM
BAGHDAD, Iraq--President Saddam Hussein pronounced his nation ready for war today, casting doubt on diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis between Washington and Baghdad by defiantly insisting that the U.S. government alone must "seek a way out of what is regarded as a mess" and accusing U.N. weapons inspectors of engaging in espionage.
Delivering his most belligerent public address in recent months, Hussein drew plentifully from his trademark grab-bag of rhetorical barbs, lambasting the United States as "wicked assistants of Satan," "a small midget" and a country pursuing "reckless policies of greed and expansionism." In an indication that he may be resigned to fighting another war with the United States, the 65-year-old leader eschewed the conciliatory themes that featured prominently in his speeches late last year, including his earlier calls for a peaceful solution to the confrontation over banned weapons and for Iraqis to accept intrusive U.N. inspections.
"We are fully prepared for everything and for any eventuality," Hussein said in a 25-minute address to commemorate Iraq's Army Day, according to an English translation provided by the Information Ministry.
Seemingly reversing a policy of tolerance toward the hunt for weapons of mass destruction, Hussein lashed out at the inspectors' desire to meet with Iraqi scientists and scour military facilities, saying the international experts who have been searching Iraq for almost six weeks have been more focused on gathering intelligence than on determining whether Iraq possesses any banned arms.
"Instead of looking for the so-called weapons of mass destruction in order to expose the distortion and lies propagated by those who endeavor in vain to deceive public opinion, the inspection teams are interested in collecting names and making lists of Iraqi scientists, addressing employees with questions that carry hidden agendas, giving special attention to military camps, to unproscribed military production and to other matters, all or most of which constitute purely intelligence work," Hussein said.
U.N. officials denied Hussein's claim, saying information gathered by the inspectors is used only to determine the scope of Iraq's arms programs and not to assist individual governments in military planning. "We flatly reject any accusation that we work for any government or provide direct information to any single government," said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, which is participating in the inspections.
A month ago, after inspectors had barged into one of his palaces, Hussein appeared to take the high road, silencing the condemnation of his deputies and insisting Iraq should comply with the weapons searches "to keep our people out of harm's way." Today's comments, however, were more reminiscent of Iraqi rhetoric in 1998, when Hussein's government stonewalled a previous group of inspectors, forcing them to withdraw and leading former president Bill Clinton to order four days of air strikes against Iraqi military installations.
Other Iraqi officials also have voiced pointed criticism of the inspections during the past few days. On Sunday, inspectors sealed off a large research complex in Baghdad that also houses Iraq's weapons-monitoring directorate, resulting in hundreds of people, including Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, getting trapped inside for six hours. The ambassador, Mohammed Douri, accused the inspectors of "unacceptable behavior."
As disapproval of the inspections has increased, so too have public announcements and displays of military readiness. A government-run newspaper reported on Sunday that a militia belonging to Hussein's ruling Baath Party conducted urban-warfare exercises outside Baghdad in preparation to defend the capital against an American attack. Another high-profile militia group plans to stage a large parade on Tuesday.
"Everyone in our people and every soldier in our armed forces as well as every official and community leader is well aware of his or her task . . . in the battle of reconstruction and the arena of confrontation," Hussein said.
"Whoever . . . is forced to face an enemy that stands on the side of falsehood and comes as an aggressor from beyond seas and oceans will no doubt emerge triumphant because victory always belongs to those who stand by in their own home," he said.
As is his custom, he began the speech by quoting verses from the Koran, reflecting the religious zealotry he has sought to muster since Iraq's defeat in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. He also infused the address with references to the strength of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations.
"If anyone attempts to intimidate you, the people of Iraq, repel him and tell him that he is a small midget while we belong to a nation of glorious faith, a great nation and an ancient people who have, through their civilization, taught the human race as a whole what man was yet to know," he said.
Dressed in a dark suit and standing before a lectern draped in white flowers, he also accused the U.S. government, to which he referred almost exclusively as "the enemy," of threatening war to promote Israel's security interests, to cover up intelligence failures related to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and to distract people from the "weakness, or indeed near collapse" of the American economy.
The speech, which was broadcast on the main state-run television channel, appeared to have been prerecorded. Hussein has not been filmed live in the past few years, largely because of fears that identifying his exact location could draw an immediate American air strike.
The taped speech also was aired extensively on al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite news channel that Iraqi officials have increasingly used in an effort to convince people in neighboring nations to pressure their governments not to support a U.S. invasion. Perhaps mindful of a broader audience that he lacked in the run-up to the 1991 war, when broadcast media in almost all Arab countries was limited to government-controlled fare, Hussein included a pointed warning about the consequences, as he sees it, of U.S. military action.
"Iraq is not the only target in this confusion," he said. "The objective is rather to subject the Arab Gulf area to a full, complete and physical occupation through which to achieve many goals. These include political interference and military intervention in the countries of the region in a manner unaccustomed before, with a view to securing complete control over their resources."
American control of Iraq, he said, "will enable the enemy, whose lines of communication and transport will now have become shorter, to launch aggression and cause damage in any direction it chooses."
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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